1. Define the goal for the players as clearly as possible.
This is essential. If the players don't have a clear idea of where they are going, they may just dither, or even strike out in frustration at the nearest likely looking target. Not only should you convey the goal at or near the beginning of the adventure, you must also take care to give a clear minor goal in each scene of the adventure. The heroes may know they are supposed to stop Doctor Doom's plot to shrink Manhattan to the size of a grapefruit, but if they don't know how to start looking for him, you haven't clearly defined the first scene's goal.
2. Convey to the players the consequences if their PCs fail to reach the goal.
If the consequences of failure don't seem serious, and preferably drastic, rethink the goal. Make it important! "Important" does not always mean world-shaking. The consequences can be completely personal. For instance, if failure in the adventure means that Aunt May dies, a good Spider-Man player will be just as motivated to reach the goal as he would if failure meant the downfall of America. In assessing a goal's importance, be aware that in a role-playing context, threats against a PC's well-being are functionally identical to threats against the city, nation, or the entire world. Both are equally serious. They both involve the players' emotions to the highest degree. This principle is useful when you want to run an adventure with potentially disastrous consequences, but you don't want to materially alter the campaign world. Even though life goes on, a single death in an adventure can be a disaster.
3. Establish paths to the goal that every PC can use.
If one PC is a sharp detective, a la Daredevil, and another plays a powerhouse like Hercules, give both of them ways to be useful. This is fundamental to all good scenario design. But the heroes should be able to succeed in the goal even when a particular PC is missing, unconscious, or otherwise indisposed. If the PCs can't win without that one character, something is wrong. Ideally, each individual PC could be the key to victory, with the others working as backup and support.
4. If possible, link the goal to distinctive features of the scenario's setting and villain.
This is really just chrome, a way to increase the players' sense of place. You can run a fine generic adventure that has nothing special to do with the setting; you just miss an opportunity, that's all. And some stories work regardless of the ultimate bad guy. The villain's psychology and peculiar motivation are unimportant; he or she is just an opponent to beat up in the last scene. This kind of story is not wrong or inherently bad. It just doesn't take advantage of many colourful possibilities of storytelling.
Clear Name |
| Someone has framed a hero
or NPC for a dreadful crime. While the accused hero evades public
brickbats or the NPC languishes in jail, the heroes must find the
responsible villain. Then they must bring back satisfactory evidence of
the frame-up, sometimes the trickiest part of the mission.
In a continuing campaign, keep in mind some outcome in case the heroes fail the mission. The accused must stand trial or the group's reputation is ruined. This can give the campaign a new direction for a while. But eventually, of course, you allow the heroes to discover new evidence to clear themselves. |
Explore |
| Not many places on Earth
remain unexplored, but there are always the ocean, Subterranea, outer
space, and other dimensions.
No one can get there but super beings, so a scientist or research society asks the PCs to look around. The heroes must journey there and come back alive. Often the heroes must bring back some legendary artifact associated with the location. Most likely a villain is using the destination as a headquarters or is plotting to strand the heroes at the destination. Whether or not foul play ensues, play up the sense of wonder, the idea that the PCs are heading "where no one has gone before." |
Find escaped villain |
| A prison calls. "Uh, don't exactly know how to explain this, but remember that arch-nemesis you dragged in last month? Well-" A clue or two, of a kind only the PCs can decipher, puts the heroes on the escaped criminal's trail. This goal is straightforward and to the point, and especially suitable when the heroes have a personal grudge against the escaped villain. |
Help a friend |
| A fellow hero, dependent NPC, or childhood friend seeks out a hero's help. The NPC is being menaced by some side effect of the villain's plan. The heroes must quash the plan to get the friend out of trouble. If you prefer to increase the paranoia level of your campaign, the "friend" could traitorously lure the heroes into the villain's deathtrap. But once stung this way, players will never regard their friends with open-hearted fellowship again. |
Personal gain |
| Super beings are, as a rule, above monetary pressures. But "gain" doesn't have to mean just money. The adventure goal might be procuring advanced technology for a hero's fancy power armour-but the needed gadget was just stolen by the adventure's villain! Alternatively, the heroes might be looking for information about their mysterious past, or legendary magic spells or treasures. Or they might be trying to "build their rep" as heroes so they can apply for an Avengers franchise. |
Protect |
| The PCs must guard a valuable person or item, such as a witness to a Maggia killing, a priceless Lemurian artifact, the US President and the Soviet Premier during a summit meeting, and so on. Another simple, straightforward goal, protecting something puts the heroes in a passive role until someone tries to do damage to the protected item. So plan on either a slow start to the adventure, or just cut immediately to the exciting scene: "You were called on to guard the ambassador, and for three days, all has gone well. But suddenly—" |
Rescue |
| A ransom note, a whispered phone call that is suddenly cut off, a broadcast appeal by the Mayor- anything can let the heroes know someone has a person or item that the PCs must get back. Usually they know the villain's identity from the start, but must find the bad guy's stronghold, enter stealthily or invade in full force, and get out alive. (Most self-respecting heroes don't try to get out until they've thoroughly trashed the place.) Often the villain is expecting the heroes and has a deathtrap or two waiting. Only forethought and skillful entry can keep the PCs out of the trap. This goal also appears when the PCs have messed up the "Protect" goal above. "You let this mess happen," some authority figure tells them, "so get out there and make up for your mistake!" |
Solve the mystery |
| Colonel Mustard has been
found dead in the drawing room, and a bloody lead pipe lies beside the
body. Who did it?
Murder mystery plots don't often work well in super-hero stories. Their complicated structures of motive, method, and opportunity call for heavy thinking. Many PC heroes aren't built for that kind of endeavour; or they may have powers that solve the whole case in one turn. For a more appropriate genre example, who turned the Eiffel Tower upside down, and why, and how? How did that minor villain become so powerful? What are those strange rumblings issuing from that new IRT subway tunnel? This kind of mystery suits a heroic campaign much better. The heroes immediately see courses of action. They can solve the mystery through physical means (getting to the end of that subway tunnel, for example) and confront the responsible villain in battle. This is the heroic equivalent of a mystery, and it works well in a scenario. |
Thwart the plot |
| The quintessential goal. The Master has just mind-controlled all of Wall Street and threatens the Western world with economic chaos. The Loa is turning an entire student population of a downtown high school into drug addicts. Doctor Destroyer has planted nuclear weapons underneath every state capital building. And so on. The heroes must find the bad guy, punch his or her lights outs, and destroy all equipment vital to the plot. You can't find a purer version of classic comics than this. |